skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Latino Group Protests Trump Environmental Nominee

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 4, 2018   

PHOENIX -- Leaders in Arizona's Latino community are speaking out against President Donald Trump's presumptive nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality.

Critics say Kathleen Hartnett White's record and positions make her a poor choice to head the agency that advises the White House on environmental policy. Masavi Perea is program director at Chispa Arizona, part of the League of Conservation Voters. She said when Hartnett White was Texas Director of Environmental Quality, she directed staff to falsify data on radiation levels in drinking water in order to avoid telling local residents about cancer risks that were more than 20-times higher than the allowable federal standard.

"It was very sad. She didn't protect the kids and the families that drink water in Texas,” Perea said. "And it was a cancer risk, and she didn't care. She was just trying to do what the corporations tell her to do."

In 2011, Hartnett White told a Houston television station that she directed staff to subtract the margin of error in the radiation tests because she disagreed with the science on health effects that had been used. And she said she thought it would cost communities too much money to comply with clean water standards.

The Senate did not vote to advance Hartnett White's nomination in the fall, so she will now have to be re-nominated by the President.

Perea noted that Hartnett White has long been a supporter of the fossil fuel industry, as well as a critic of renewable energy and efforts to address climate change.

"Mrs. Hartnett White is a person who rejects science, someone who denies climate change,” Perea said. "It will put us in danger."

After she testified at a hearing in the Senate late last year, more than 300 scientists sent a letter to the committee opposing Hartnett White's nomination.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021